What kind of materials is Kumon Japanese M Finally, we are entering the final stage of Japanese!

At what grade level are the Kumon Japanese M materials?

The M materials are equivalent to high school level materials. Kumon Japanese has six levels of high school level materials, and the J and K materials dealt with classical Japanese, while the L material dealt with Chinese.

Although the level is equivalent to high school, the content is of a high level, and even high school students should be proud that they have reached this point.

What kind of teaching materials is Kumon Japanese M?

Let's check the details of the teaching materials. First, let's check the aims of the official Kumon M teaching materials.

While evoking "critical thinking," the Kumon Japanese M materials help students acquire more advanced reading comprehension skills. Students will study while being aware of the characteristics and relationships of each character, the viewpoints of others, misreading, raising issues, refuting arguments, etc. Students will improve their reading comprehension of ancient and Chinese texts.

The J- to L-materials are based on "reading critical texts based on material study," which consists of multiple texts to be read; the M-materials deal with multiple characters, viewpoints, and arguments in a text.

Next, let's check the materials used.

The themes tested in the M materials are divided into three major categories: Person Coordinates, Perspectives of Others, and Verification. Although looking at the themes alone may seem abstract, it should be understood generally as "reading and understanding many people, viewpoints, and arguments.

Also, looking at the course materials, it is clear that all of the modern, ancient, and Chinese literature is covered. This is an indication that the Kumon Japanese language program has begun to be integrated into the program. The lineup is also challenging, with a mix of books that even the most avid reader may not have suppressed.

M-Teaching Materials Require Understanding of Diverse Perspectives

We described the theme of the M Materials as "reading and understanding many people, points of view, and arguments. We will explain this point in more detail.

The texts up to the I materials followed a single argument. The texts from J to L had two texts, a material text and a critical text, but the structure of the texts was to understand the claims of the critical text based on the material text. The structure of the J to L materials was to understand the claims of the critical text based on the data, not to understand multiple claims that differ from one another.

However, in the M materials, various viewpoints are mixed in a single text.

For example, starting from M91, we will be dealing with the Tale of Genji. In the story, there is a question that asks how the women around her feel about the fact that the lowly Kiritsubo no Sarai is favored by the emperor. The answer requires multiple perspectives: "The high status person has a sense of superiority over Kiritsubo no Sarai, so she can afford it," but "the low status person is in the same position, so she is more jealous.

The simplest form in reading narrative text is the form that follows the emotions of the main characters. In the same material of The Tale of Genji, the main character's feelings are to be deciphered by reading that Kiritsubo Sarai is in pain because she is jealous. However, this time, the question is not about the main character, but about the viewpoints of the women around her. It is necessary to understand the text from a variety of perspectives.

Emotions, Rules, and Beyond Complexity

Understanding diverse perspectives is also required in real-life relationships.

Most people focus on their emotions when they are small. The criteria for deciding on something will also be based on feelings of fun, wanting to try something, or being angry or scared.

Then, in group life, they gradually learn to follow objective rules. We realize that group life would not be possible if everyone did what they wanted to do.

But going one step further, we come to realize that behind the rules are individual thoughts and feelings. It is an objective rule not to hit a friend, but behind the rule is the teacher's intention to facilitate group life. Therefore, even for the same violence, the severity of the sentence will vary depending on the nature of the violence. If the violence is to settle a dispute, some may just say, "Be careful next time," but if the violence is a police matter, expulsion or suspension from school will often be considered.

This does not mean that it is okay to break the rules. But the treatment for breaking them often depends on the intentions of the person making the decision.

Whether you act according to your own feelings or according to objective rules, both are the same in that they operate according to a single context. In reality, however, objective rules are the foundation on which various people's circumstances and emotions are based.

The complexity that we deal with in the M teaching materials is the same kind of complexity that exists in reality.

Manga and anime can be tools to realize the complexity of reality.

Manga and anime are powerful tools for understanding such complexity.

We mentioned in our discussion of the C and E materials that manga and anime are useful. In that case, I mentioned that it is easier to read a story than a novel, so it is easier to get used to the format of narrative writing.

What kind of teaching materials is Kumon Japanese E?　The key points are to understand the "subjunctive relation" and to deal with "dare not speak" narrative sentences.

It is almost impossible for a child who has reached the M level to be unfamiliar with stories. However, when considering reading texts from various perspectives, manga and anime are useful from a different perspective.

One of the main characteristics of manga and anime is their diversity. The historical backgrounds can be geographically and chronologically very different from your child's current environment, and the characters can be as diverse and distinctive in appearance and age as possible. And above all, many people and organizations operate under different ideas.

For example, in One Piece, the main characters are pirates, but their friends all travel with different goals. So even though they belong to the same organization and experience the same situations, it is easy to see that they all feel differently. When arriving at a new island, some are expecting a good meal, some are looking for treasure, some are scared and don't want to go ashore... That's how it is. The story goes that they are all going to the island with a common purpose, but each of them is thinking about something completely different. In manga and anime, we are naturally exposed to the concept of multiple viewpoints.

The same tendency may be true for stories in general. However, in novels and Japanese films, for example, there is a culture of private fiction, so there are some aspects that do not necessarily show a variety of viewpoints. Western films tend not to be good at explaining things directly, so some motifs and metaphors may be difficult for your child to understand. Hollywood-type movies tend to focus more on action than on emotional portrayal. Dramas are a good option, but not like the old days when all your friends are watching them, and boys are often not interested in them in the first place.

There are good and bad works, of course, but if you choose the best works, manga and anime are great teaching materials for understanding diverse viewpoints.

New generations are better at understanding diversity

In terms of diversity awareness, children's generation is arguably better than their parents' generation. If your child has already reached the M materials, it is likely to be a material that can produce good results simply by watching over him or her without excessive intervention.